Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade
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Captain Nick Walker, an army doctor, and three other medics were nearing the end of their 24-hour shift in Afghanistan's Helmand province early last Friday morning. It had been moderately busy. The night before, the team - this war's mobile equivalent of Korea's M*A*S*H - rescued two US soldiers injured when their vehicle hit a landmine near Sangin, the remote narco-hub that Nato snatched from the Taliban two weeks ago. Afterwards they watched a Hollywood movie. But 50 minutes before they were due to knock off, the red phone on their desk rang. Three British casualties, the voice reported, one of them "T1" - in imminent danger.
A portable foetal heart monitor which has been developed for pregnant women could help to cut the number of stillbirths in Britain, according to the charity that funded the research. About 3,500 babies are stillborn every year in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics. Stillbirth is often related to risk factors such as a mother's history of diabetes or high blood pressure, or a previous stillbirth.
The Royal College of Nursing was last night heading for the first national industrial action in its 91-year history in protest at the government's decision to hold back part of the pay increase nurses were due this month. The union's annual congress, which opens today in Harrogate, will vote tomorrow on an emergency resolution for action to force ministers to pay the full 2.5% recommended by an independent pay review body. Peter Carter, the recently appointed general secretary, said delegates were "angry, despondent and worried". They did not want to strike, but they could not accept the injustice of the government's decision.
Britain is facing an abortion crisis because an unprecedented number of doctors are refusing to be involved in carrying out the procedure. The exodus of doctors prepared to perform the task is a nationwide phenomenon that threatens to plunge the abortion service into chaos, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has warned. More than 190,000 abortions are carried out each year in England and Wales and the NHS is already struggling to cope. Four out of five abortions are paid for by the NHS but almost half of those are carried out in the private sector, paid for by the NHS.
Young people should be banned from drinking until they reach 21 or be forced to carry a card that records their alcohol intake, a think tank columnist claims yesterday. Binge drinking has become such an "overwhelming" problem, argues journal of the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research, that policy makers need to practice "tough love" and put drink out of the reach of youngsters.
Ban the under-21s from drinking, say Blair advisers - Daily Mail 15th March 2007
We are blasé about abortion in Britain; opposition to it is as muted as is the support for it (which is why we are running out of doctors prepared to carry it out). It is merely an unexceptionable part of the fabric of society. Contrast us with the United States, where the issue splits the nation, and each side gives itself a powerful, emotive label: one is Pro-Choice, the other is Pro-Life. Early termination has an infinitely greater social, religious and indeed political resonance In the Land of the Free than it does here.
Tony Blair said yesterday that a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) claim that more than 22,300 NHS jobs have been lost in the last 18 months was "greatly exaggerated". On the eve of its annual conference, the RCN said it was laying bare "the myth" that the debt crisis in the NHS had been solved.
Britain’s diabetics are the worst in Europe at controlling their blood glucose levels and fail to understand the impact on their health, a survey has found. Millions of people suffer from type 2 diabetes and the numbers are rising fast, according to the International Diabetes Federation. The long-term consequences if the disease is not controlled properly include blindness, nerve damage and kidney failure.
Adoption hid that disease ran in family - The Times 16th March 2007
British 'worst in Europe on diabetes' - The Telegraph 16th April 2007
Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas monopoly, wants to become a big supplier of gas to the NHS, but its plans have been attacked by health campaigners and politicians for having “potentially horrendous” implications for public health in Britain. The Russian gas giant is trying to turn itself into a well-known name in the UK as an important supplier to households and businesses. Gazprom told The Times yesterday that it had “submitted a tender for various NHS projects” and would seek further such opportunities if they became available. A spokesman added that the contracts were mostly of fixed terms to supply local health authorities.
Think of the most exclusive club in the country — more exclusive than the Bullingdon at Oxford, or White’s in St James — and then reject it as not being choosy enough in its choice of candidate. There is one club where the criteria for acceptance is not social, where money has no influence but where the entry requirements are some of the most challenging in Britain. Its members are people with renal failure who need a transplant and have been selected to have one.
Tony Blair plans to push through big education and health reforms in his final days in office in an effort to secure his legacy. Once the local election campaign is over, the Prime Minister will make a string of announcements in May and June, including the creation of up to 300 trust schools and an expansion of private treatment centres for the NHS.
All workplaces have them. Even you probably act like one at times. Now Robert Sutton, a professor of management science, reveals how to spot a**holes, how to survive them — and how not to become one
Health should be the next Government's top spending priority, according to a poll published today. In a survey of more than 2,000 members of the public, carried out for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), health was the most important issue - ahead of education, defence, law and order, and the environment.
Health 'should be top priority' - BBC Health News 15th April 2007
In its 10 years in office, no legislative measure has caused the Labour Government more trouble than the Bill to be debated by MPs today. Ministers have been trying to reform the mental health laws since 1998 without success. The Mental Health Bill, which is in the Commons this afternoon after being mauled in the Lords, marks the third, and almost certainly final, attempt.
Chloe Rhodes examines the origins of petroleum jelly and reveals why it is so popular with 'Telegraph' readers Last month, a reader wrote to our GP columnist Dr James Le Fanu to report the "miraculous" healing properties of Vaseline.
'And when Mummy and Daddy really love each other..." my mum says, blinking at me with a fixed smile. "Yeah, I know," I interrupt, dreading where this conversation is leading. My dad, sitting alongside her on the sofa, has an air of contained panic and a strange constipated expression. Mum is holding a booklet. "Sometimes they give each other a special kind of cuddle," she perseveres, swallowing hard. "Yeah, thanks, really," I interrupt again, wondering which of us has turned the deepest shade of red. "And sometimes then what happens is that Daddy's..." her voice falters. "OK, OK, thanks, that's enough!" I scream.
Decades of Government attempts to control illegal drugs have had "minimal" impact on levels of use and led to a position where Britain has the worst addiction levels in Europe, a report will say this week. In the latest piece of research to underline the failures of drug policy by Labour and Conservative administrations, the report is understood to point out that up to one in three people arrested on suspicion of crimes is using hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
With his golden curls and winning smile, he touched the nation's heart half a century ago. John Gold was born with a hole in the heart and given only five years to live by doctors who at that time were unable to repair the condition.
The cause of high blood pressure may lie within the brain, rather than with problems relating to the heart, kidneys or blood vessels, research suggests. Scientists at Bristol University say the findings could lead to new ways of treating the condition, which affects about one in five Britons.
The chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) wants a "cast-iron guarantee" that no junior doctor will lose out from changes to training. James Johnson told the BMA's Junior Members' Forum the careers of thousands of them could be ruined by the changes.
For over 18 years Lynn Thackray had debilitating heartburn. Her symptoms became so bad that she was woken several times a night, she became over-tired and started missing work.
The government's overhaul of the mental health system must give more protection to children, a charity has warned. The Young Minds group says 1,000 youngsters are admitted to adult wards each year - almost one third being detained against their will.
The NHS is unlikely to be free at the point of use within 10 years, say doctors. A British Medical Association poll of 964 young GPs and hospital doctors found 61% thought patients would have to pay for some treatment by 2017.
Health visitors 'lottery' claim - BBC Health News 15th April 2007
Parents in England are facing a "postcode lottery" of health visitor provision, a family think-tank says. The Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) said its survey found the number of children per health visitor varied greatly from region to region.
International News
$1bn 'don't have sex' campaign a flop as research shows teenagers ignore lessons - The Guardian 16th April 2007
It's been a central plank of George Bush's social policy: to stop teenagers having sex. More than $1bn of federal money has been spent on promoting abstinence since 1998 - posters printed, television adverts broadcast and entire education programmes devised for hundreds of thousands of girls and boys. The trouble is, new research suggests that it hasn't worked.
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